Stage 6

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Stage 6

Day 6 Beauvais - Caen 219 km

Analysis

As expected, Pineau's team kept the breaks in until the first KOM prime and lead out so that their riders took all three places with the points for the prime. This significantly increased Pineau's lead. That was the result of an excellent team leadout.

again, as expected, the break went right after the KOM prime but, since there was a Quickstep rider in the break and Boonen was the GC leader, some of the other sprinter teams brought back six of the eight break riders including the Quickstep rider and let the last two riders go for the day.

Since there were only two riders on break in a long stage, the peloton let them open a pretty good sized lead and almost didn't catch them before the finish. The break was caught in the last 2 kms because the peloton almost slept too long.

Since there were only two riders on break, there were points for third place in the KOM sprints left over. Wegmann contested for the third place points on the first few KOM primes but Pineau's team did an excellent job of leading him out. After that, Wegmann set back to save his legs for another day while Pineau took the remainder of the left over KOM points.

You should have noticed that Vansummeren attacked just before the three road primes to get the third place points so none of the other Points Title riders could get them and gain ground on his team mate, McEwen. Then he would slide back into the peloton to rest for the next road prime. That was done so McEwen didn't have to waste his legs sprinting for a few points instead of using that energy at the end of the stage to win more points and, possibly, the stage win. This is one of many ways that domestiques protect their top riders, especially in stage races.

Some one asked why the sprinters lead out so far from the finish and get passed by the pack at the finish. I can only assume that, where ever he is getting his information, that they are not being clear or he simply doesn't understand what is being said. The riders doing the leadouts are not the designated team sprinters but are the lead out riders trying to lead or tow their team designated team sprinters into a prime sprinting position for the stage sprint. The riders passing them at the finish are the designated team sprinters making their 200 to 400 meter dash for the line and the stage win.

Nothing significant changed in standings today as far as any titles.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow's stage is significantly shorter than the last few days at only 189 km. It only has one cat 3 climb at about 27.5 km and three road primes spread out in the stage. It is mostly flat and rolling.

The KOM prime is borderline distance into the stage as to whether the KOM teams will try to prevent breaks until that prime. They may or may not. They may simply just let a break go that doesn't have anyone in it who is in the top 5 to 7 on KOM points.

Most likely the stage will be won by a pack sprint but this is a kind of funny stage in that, if the teams fall asleep and a large enough break makes it up the road, the break could win. This is especially true since it is the day before the individual time trial and many teams will be thinking about saving legs for the time trial.

Tomorrow will be the last road stage before the first time trial and significant sort on GC. You can bet the sprinters will ride hard tomorrow to win because it could easily be their last chance to take the GC lead before the time trial sorts them down out of GC and puts a time trialist in the lead.

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